Creating voracious readers since 1974

Wow! It’s been a while since we posted anything here. Sorry about that. Fingers crossed that we’ll be better about updating in the future. Thanks to Will for getting the ball rolling again with his review of Kathryn Purdie’s book, Burning Glass. Perfect timing, too, as the book’s release date is tomorrow, March 1st!

Kathryn Purdie has created a thrilling love and action story with her latest installment, The Burning Glass. This is a joy for readers who are into fantasy. There is no better way to describe this than a tremendously fun read. I loved the ending and the way Ms. Purdie wove her sentences together.

Mira read Alex Flinn’s Mirrored, which is a contemporary re-telling of Snow White. This is what Mira though of the book:

Mirrored is a great book, I would recommend it for kids 10 and up. It has a few swear words here and there but it is mostly clean. I think Mirrored is interesting because it has the voice or perspectives from Violet (a witch), Celine (a pretty girl who loses both parents), and Goose (a fun funny and loyal friend who becomes very close to Celine in the book). It also is a mystery type book and has some similarities to the common book Snow White! I hope you will read it and like it as much as I did.

Max read Creature Keepers and the Swindled Soil-Soles by Peter Nelson and Rohitash Rao and he wasn’t a fan, but for good reasons. I’ll let him explain:

Two kids who are Creature Keepers to sent to help Big Foot hide. But there’s someone – a reality show host – who’s trying to find him. I liked the cover, but I couldn’t get into this book at all. Maybe because I didn’t read the first book in the series. It might be good for younger kids.

Maddie read Arnie the Doughnut: The Spinny-Icky Showdown by Laurie Keller and had this to say about it:

In this book, Arnie the doughnut and his friend Pizza see on TV that The Spinny-Icky Showdown is coming to their neighborhood and they try out to be in it and get to be in it. They end up doing a few challenges but even if the challenge is very hard they always win. It was very fast-moving. I liked that the pictures were all over. The book would be good for people who like a lot of pictures and not so much words. It’s a funny book.

Abby read The Sister Solution by Trudi Trueit and this is what she thought:

”The Sister Solution” is an excellent book. I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars because it is not one of my favorites, but it is still a good book.

I liked this book because some of the books I like are stories that could really happen, and I think that this story is also realistic fiction.

It is about a girl named Sammi. She is in 8th grade. She has a sister named Jorgianna that is in 6th grade. Jorgianna is very smart for her age, so she moves up not one, but two grades. Sammi is very upset, and makes sure she doesn’t see Jorgianna during school. Soon she realizes that it wasn’t very nice.

I would recommend this book to people age 9 and over, and to people who have sisters.

Way back at the dawn of time–well, April or May, actually–Willa read Jack by Liesl Shurtliff, but her review got lost somewhere in the ether. Thankfully, it got re-sent so that I can share it with all of you.

The book Jack, by Liesl Shurtliff, is about a poor boy named Jack who dreams of being great or important, but has to harvest crops with his father all day. When his father gets taken away by giants, Jack sets after him—in the shape of a giant beanstalk. But it’s not easy to be a 12 year old boy in a giant world. Danger comes in many forms including giant bugs, frogs, snakes, pixies, (that are the same size as him) and King Barf, the giant king that rules with an iron fist and an obsession for gold.
I really liked this book because of the lesson. It teaches you to be open-minded. For instance, Jack hated plants before he had been in the giant world, but after he was saved by them at the end of the book, he appreciated them, and started to like doing work in the fields.
If you like the Sisters’ Grimm, Half Upon A Time, or any other twisted fairy tale, you’ll love Jack.
My favorite quote from the book is, ”I was supposed to be the hero. Jack the Great. But maybe part of being great was knowing when to step aside, and let someone else step up, even if they were smaller than you.”

Anna read The Cat Who Came in Off the Roof by Annie M.G. Schmidt and she liked it a lot. Like, a whole lot. This is what she had to say about it:

I like The Cat Who Came in Off the Roof. I like adventure books and cat books. If you like adventure books or cat books you should read this book.

The Cat Who Came in Off the Roof is about a man named Tibble. He writes for the newspaper and only likes to write stories about cats. He meets a young woman who once was a cat and was recently turned into a Human. Her name was Minou, Tibble called her Miss Minou. She comes into Mr. Tibble’s attic off the roof in the mornings. Once day Tibble said Miss Minou could star for a bit. He does not know she was once a cat but he begins to notice that cattish things she does, purring when she is happy and hissing or scratching when she is mad. She also likes to talk to cats and then she started to be useful to Tibble because she brought him news and he writes new stories.

Unfortunately for all of you who aren’t Anna, this book won’t be published until January 19, 2016.